Vol. 4, No. 168, June 17, 2019

4168 - Circle.

Today I had some Miller Time. C asked me to color with her. I started with a flower, and then added some circles around it making the flower look like it is laying on a rug.

Vol. 4, No. 167, June 16, 2019

4167 - In A Bowl.

What's in a bowl? I found a fresh bowl of watermelon on the kitchen counter, awaiting our Father's Day dinner.

Vol. 4, No. 166, June 15, 2019

4166 - Chocolate.

Take a picture of chocolate. Margo graciously made Chocolate Chip Cookie-Dark Chocolate Brownie Bars for dessert tonight. I snapped a picture before devouring the brownie battery goodness.

Vol. 4, No. 165, June 14, 2019

4165 - Purple.

Take a photo of something purple. I went in search of some purple flowers, only to find that all of the purple flowers that were blooming last week are now dried up. I fact the only flowers that were blooming were the purple Creeping Charlie. So that is what I photographed.

Vol. 4, No. 164, June 13, 2019

4164 - Open Up.

Today's prompt: take a photo of something open. During Miller Time I read books to C.  When I was finished, I laid a book open on the couch, curving the pages to make a heart. Later after the Littles went to bed, Oldest Miller and I pulled out her MC^2 Gelatin Jewelry kit and made a patch of strawberry gems. I also spelt out her name.

Vol. 4, No. 163, June 12, 2019

4163 - Spotty.

I decided to do a photo a day for a while. I searched online for list to follow and found the Fat Mum Slim blog, which posts a photography challenge every month. The challenge for today was to take a photo of something spotty. The first spotty thing I fo uh and was rocks scattered on the sidewalk at the playground the the Miller Littles and I stopped at to play. Later we played dominoes, which meant more spots.

Vol. 4, No. 162, June 11, 2019

4162 - Iridescent Origami.

Today I spent a few hours at school with my co-worker, cleaning out a portion of our storage closet to make room for our office for next year. One of the boxes that I moved contained origami paper, and right on top of the box was some iridescent paper. I thought the shiny paper would make for a good project, so I grabbed a sheet. When I got home, I folded the paper to make a goldfish.

Vol. 4, No. 161, June 10, 2019

4161 - Designated Driver.

Today my sister Margo had ear tube surgery. Since she can’t drive for 24 hours after the surgery, and everyone else had to work today, I got to be her designated driver. This meant driving to the cities, waiting 45 minutes to get into pre-op, then almost 2 hours before she went to surgery. While Margo was in surgery, I “borrowed” some gloves to and made a flower. The best part of my day was driving home in rush-hour traffic.

I gave the flower to Margo when we got home and she asked me why I took the gloves home.

Vol. 4, No. 160, June 9, 2019

4160 - Fresh Finds.

Today was Sunday Funday a.k.a. Clean out the pantry day. Our pantry was so messy and disorganized, you couldn’t find anything, so this was a necessary task. We worked together to clean everything out of the pantry and wash the shelves. As the pantry was drying, we sorted through the food, combining half-full containers and throwing out things that weren’t good anymore. On the chopping block was a partial container of Fruit Fresh and Baking Soda. I combined the Fruit Fresh with a little bit of water to create a dough. It was similar to cornstarch mixed with water; it was firm to the touch, but melted as it sat. Margo suggested make a “Dough-Man”. When I was finished sculpting my snowman, I sprinkled it with baking soda to make it white. When the baking soda landed on the sculpture it started to fizz and bubble. This inspired me to add some vinegar for even more of an explosion. After exploding fun, I added more baking soda, recreating a dough. It was a bubbly mixture that was really cold. I attempted to form it into a volcano and let it dry so that I could make it erupt, but the chemical processes were already in action and the volcano melted instead of drying out.

Vol. 4, No. 159, June 8, 2019

4159 - Boxed In.

Today I used my completed coloring page to fold an origami box. The box is fun because it shows both sides of the paper. I had a small strip of paper leftover which I used to make a bow. Now i just need to find a gift to give to someone that will fit in the box.

Vol. 4, No. 158, June 7, 2019

4158 - Bloomin’ Ideas.

The back page of yesterday’s coloring book page was this page of flowers. It was Becca's idea to color it today. Unfortunately she left yesterday, so was unable to help. I did get help from Margo, my mom, and the Miller Littles. This page wasn't as daunting of a task as yesterday's lines.

Vol. 4, No. 157, June 6, 2019

4157 - Oh The Places You’ll Go.

Yesterday during Miller Time, the Miller Littles wanted to color. So I pulled grabbed an adult coloring book and randomly chose a page. Everyone said the swirls reminded them of Dr. Seuss’s “Oh The Places You’ll Go”.  I began coloring with CAT, later Becca joined in. When it was time to leave Miller’s, it still wasn’t finished, so I brought it home. This morning, Margo finished it for me.

Vol. 4, No. 156, June 5, 2019

4156 - What’s The Buzz About.

Today I enjoyed some Miller Time. While there, the girls were coloring and Mama Miller decided to make a sign she had been asked by a friend to make. The sign was to included a bee. The job of drawing the bee went to me. It may not be the world’s best bee, but I think it’s cute.

Vol. 4, No. 155, June 4, 2019

4155 - Lilacs.

Lying on my hammock soaking up the morning sun, I began to think about my project for the day. I was perusing Instagram when I saw the  #64MillionArtist’s weekly challenge. The challenge was to explore nature and make something with or inspired by what you see. The next post I saw was from Nature Print Paper. I brought home some Nature Print Paper from school so that I could keep exploring and develop a lesson plan for next year. I grabbed a piece of paper and headed back out side to my favorite plant in my backyard, the Lilacs. I picked a sprig from the bush and laid it on the paper on the ground. In less than a minute it was done and I headed back inside to develop the paper. It is pretty and I already have ideas for more. The best part of this project was smelling the sweet scent on lilac as I worked.

Vol. 4, No. 154, June 3, 2019

4154 - Summer Vacation.

To kick off my summer vacation, I headed back to school, working 12 hours and putting in 26,000 steps towards cleaning out my classroom. I am happy to say that I got both classrooms cleaned up and my elementary classroom emptied out. Now I just have to go back one day next week to help my co-worker with the process of consolidating our classrooms into one.

While I was emptying out cupboards today, I came across a valentines craft kit. It was a little heart person. There was only one project left in the kit, so I decided to make it. I left the valentine in a drawer of the file cabinet for the new teacher to find.

Vol. 4, No. 153, June 2, 2019

4153 - That’s What You Get.

It’s hard to believe that my second youngest cousin is graduating today. My mom volunteered to bring bars to his party, and I offered to make them for her. I made banana bars with homemade cream cheese frosting. Since his school colors are Navy and White, I decided to mix in some blue food coloring, to make the frosting more festive. When mom saw the bars she said “I wouldn’t eat those. Everyone’s mouth will turn blue.” My response was “well that’s what he gets for graduating from DC. If he had graduated from Litchfield, I would have used green.”

Vol. 4, No. 152, June 1, 2019

4152 - Dexterity.

Today I unleashed my visual dexterity. I found Q-bitz Extreme, a game, when cleaning my classroom, I decided to bring it home for the summer and test it out to decide which age group it would be best suited for. In case there was any doubt, I am a visual person and do pretty well at the game. I played against my sister. We played 5 games, 8 rounds each, I won all 5. Margo did manage to win a couple of rounds though. Being that the game is  all about patterns, I decided it counted as my creative project for the day.

Vol. 4, No. 151, May 31, 2019

4151 - Flying High.

I spent my day in meetings and cleaning my classrooms. While I was cleaning, I came across one of the airplanes that I made for a demo for my middle schoolers. I made this plane using paper I found on the drying rack. I took a break to today to go outside and take a picture.

Vol. 4, No. 150, May 30, 2019

4150 - The End.

Today was the last day of school, so I took my 7th graders outside to draw with sidewalk chalk. A couple of students were complaining about being bored, so I suggested pictionary. They each drew a picture, then I took a turn. I decided to make it challenging and drew a snake that ate an elephant. I started with the wavy line of the snake's back, then added the belly. Then drew the elephant, and added an eye and tongue on the snake. Eventually someone guessed elephant, but the most common guess was a hat.

Vol. 4, No. 149, May 29, 2019

4149 - Distraction.

Today I started cleaning out my classroom. I have to consolidate with the other art room for next year. As I was going through cabinets, I found spray starch. I use liquid starch for the 6th grade self portraits, and k am almost out, so I decided this would be a good time to test out another form of starch. I used ink to draw a flower, colored it with chalk and then sprayed the starch. This method does work, but it isn't as practical for whole class use as liquid starch.

Vol. 4, No. 148, May 28, 2019

4148 - Responsible.

Upon completion of 8th grade, such student signs the class ceiling tile that is then hung in the hallway. The job of making sure the ceiling tile gets finished falls on the art teacher a.k.a me. I was given the tile last week and told I could have my art class work on it. Students gladly volunteered to work on the tile, but they only had 2 more days of art. Surprise, surprise, they didn't get the tile finished. I had asked the yudents to come in during my prep time today, but none of them showed up. I was tempted to leave the half finished tile as is, but my perfectionism wouldn't let that happen. So I stayed late today finishing outlining the numbers and filling them in with gray paint. It's not the way I would have designed it, but that part was all student work.

Vol. 4, No. 147, May 27, 2019

4147 - Chalk It Up.

For their final art project, my 1st graders made glue and chalk drawings inspired by Russian Onion Domes. This building was my demonstration from class.

Vol. 4, No. 146, May 26, 2019

4146 - Under the Sea.

I am back tracking this weekend. With the wedding over, I am now relaxing which means, posting art that I made in school last week. My Kindergarteners finished their Underwater Glue and Chalk drawings, which meant I finished my example. I chose to make a jumping dolphin with an island. While this project was incredibly messy, the students loved itl

Vol. 4, No. 145, May 25, 2019

4145 - Centered.


Today I officially welcomed another Brother-in-law into the family, when my sister Jessica married Eduardo. It was a group effort to design and decorate. Each table was slightly different, but they all resembled this centerpiece which has red stones, white roses and tea lights.

The wedding and reception were both beautiful with a good mix of both American and Hispanic traditions. Congratulations Jessica and Eddie.

Vol. 4, No. 146, May 23, 2019

4146 - Mary.

As part of Jessica's wedding tomorrow, flowers are being presented to the Blessed Virgin Mary. When I got home I saw a slave of Rose's in a vase on the table. After inquiring about its purpose, I offered to do the flower arranging. The final arrangement isn't exactly what I was hoping for, but it will serve its purpose.

Vol. 4, No. 145, May 23, 2019

4145 - Polished.

Tonight, after we finished cleaning up the house for tomorrow’s gathering, the girls gathered around the dining room table for a mini spa night. Everyone did manicures, while I also did a pedicure. I am wearing a lavender dress for the wedding, so I opted for shades of purple for my nail polish. Like it almost always does, one toe looks better than the other, but it will due. As it turns out, people don’t usually look at your toes anyways!

Vol. 4, No. 144, May 22, 2019

4144 - Numbered.

As we count down the days until my sister’s wedding, I continue to assist with creative projects. Tonight, I figured out the table numbers. After designing the cards, I had to figure out how to make the card stands stand up on the tables and look nice. After much deliberation it was decided that attaching the sticks to votives and placing the votives in roses would do the job. So I had to pull the centers out of 20 roses. I only actually assembled one stand so that we could have an example for when we are decorating on Friday.

Vol. 4, No. 143, May 21, 2019

4143 - Fun In The Sun.

As I was digging through a desk drawer after school, I came across a pack of Nature Print Paper. Nature Print Paper is unique sun-sensitive paper that exposes in direct sunlight to create white on blue prints. I am trying to decide on a fun last day of art project for my Middle School students, so I decided to test out the print process. It was mostly cloudy outside, so I was unsure how well it would work. It worked just fine! It was also pretty windy, so my leaves blew a little, causing them to shift slightly. This made for uneven exposure. It was still as fun experiment. The picture on the left is pre-exposure and the right is the final print.

Vol. 4, No. 142, May 20, 2019

4142 - Foxy.

I’m not normally one to advocate to drawing on one’s body, especially with art supplies, however I made an exception today. As I was putting the stoppers back in paint bottles, I got some paint on my hand. When I went to wash my hands, I realized one spot looked like a fox. I decided to use a Sharpie to draw in the details. It was a bit of a challenge as the paint was on the heal of my right hand, so I had to draw with my left. It’s a good thing I practiced last week. The paint was washable, so as soon as I washed my hands for real, it came right off.

Vol. 4, No. 141, May 19, 2019

4141 - Ready Or Not.

With only 6 days until Jessica’s wedding, our house has been bustling with activity.  During our “bachelorette” weekend, my sisters, mom and I started on the wedding party favors. We packed the gift boxes assembly style and due to limited time, I volunteered to tie the ribbons around the boxes. After tying the ribbons, I had to make the name tags for each box, as they will be used to tell the guests their table number for the reception. I designed, printed, cut, and hole punched all 200 tags. I haven’t actually attached all of the tags yet, because the boxes have different color ribbons and we want them to look orderly on the table. Therefore we will attach the tags after the boxes are laid out. I decided to use my own tag for the picture.

Want to know what's in the box? Well you'll have to be a wedding guest (or ask a wedding guest) to find out!

Vol. 4, No. 140, May 18, 2019

4140 - Onions.

For the end of the year, I decided to let my elementary students explore chalk. To make it more educational, each grade has a topic. The 1st graders are learning about Russian architecture, specifically onion domes such as those on St. Basils Cathedral in Moscow. Students used glue to draw their own building, including a onion dome. Next, they use chalk to color each section. This is my first example.

Vol. 4, No. 139, May 17, 2019

4139 - Bachelorette.

Tonight my sisters, mom, niece, and I gathered for a girl’s night as a bachelorette party for Jessica. We ate dinner, played a couple games, had some drinks, and then worked on the centerpieces for the wedding. I got to take a picture of the centerpieces, but after we had cleaned up and were sitting down to play The T-Shirt Game, we found a couple of gems left on the table. I laid them out on the table with my cards to create this lion face. Tune in next week to see the completed decorations.

Vol. 4, No. 138, May 16, 2019

4138 - Transition.

Last week one of my TK (transitional Kindergarten) students came to class with a broken arm. She seemed to be struggling with her project a little bit, so I asked her about it. Turns out she broke her dominant hand. Being the first year of TK, I didn’t have a curriculum developed, so for the most part I just followed the Kindergarten curriculum and threw in a different lesson or two when I thought a project would be too challenging, or we needed extra time on something. This being said, I decided to throw in an impromptu drawing lesson this week to support my friend with a broken arm. We did a step by step drawing showing the students how they can change one thing into something else just adding new lines. The challenge was that everyone had to complete this drawing with their non-dominant hand. Many students struggles, continuing to switch their crayons back to their dominant hand. I drew my example on the SMART Board, using my left hand (non-dominant). It was actually easy for me, and I didn’t really notice any difference in my drawing. When I was finished I noticed the dull pain that came from straining my left hand for so long.

Vol. 4, No. 137, May 15, 2019

4137 - Missing.

As soon as I walked into my classroom this morning, I noticed something was a miss, there was a table out of place. I looked around the room, only to realize that the table was nowhere in sight. Thinking maybe the custodian had taken it to fix something on it, I just went about my work. I had two hours until students would show up, so I decided to wait it out. By 11, I was starting to panic. With classes of 23 students and tables that seat a maximum of 4 students, I couldn’t have class with only 5 tables. Between classes, I asked the other art teacher if she knew anything about my missing table. She didn’t, but suggested that I send out an all school email with the request that the table be returned before my class at Noon. So that’s what I did. However, being creative, I couldn’t just send a boring email, I had to make a Missing Poster as well. With the help of the Canva app, I whipped out a quick poster and got it distributed. Within 5 minutes, the custodian came down the hall pushing my table. I decided not to ask any questions, and just thanked him to the table’s prompt return.

Vol. 4, No. 136, May 14, 2019

4136 - I Spy.

Today was an absolutely gorgeous spring day, so after school I watched some of my students play baseball for a bit. Then I headed home to enjoy a couple hours lounging in my hammock. As I lay there, I watched the clouds breeze by. Not wanting to go out an make art, I decided to do photography instead. I snapped some pictures of the clouds, but this one was my favorite. As the sun was starting to set, it’s rays were blocked by a passing cloud, creating a streak across the sky. As I studied the cloud in the picture, I tried to make out a picture, and decided that it looks like a Motorola flip phone with the antenna pulled up. Do you see it?

Vol. 4, No. 135, May 13, 2019

4135 - Dancing Lights.

Today I completed my final Northern Lights project example of the year. This one was rather rushed, so I’m not thrilled with the details I added. Though I do love the tree!

Vol. 4, No. 134, May 12, 2019

4134 - Mother Mary.

Today we celebrate Mother’s Day, while I have a lot of great moms in my life, I have to say that my mom is a pretty good one. Today I was fortunate to be able to spend the whole day with her from selling flowers at church, to breakfast with my sisters, to an impromptu shopping trip with dinner out and a quick game of Parcheesi before bed. It was a fun stress-free day, unless you count the stress of getting to all of the stores we wanted to go to before they close.

Because of our adventures, I didn’t  have time to make a project, so instead, I put together a photo collage using the photos I had on my mom on my phone. I know they probably aren’t all her favorite pictures, but to make her feel better, I included some of myself that aren’t my favorite either.

Vol. 4, No. 133, May 11, 2019

4133 - The Blues.

Tonight I was invited for Miller time as we watched some town ball. It was Reading Night at the Litchfield Blues game; elementary students were invited to read with players on the field before the game and there were other special activities for the kids as well. While the Miller Littles were reading, I took some time to make art. It had rained earlier in the afternoon, so the ground was pretty muddy. I found a stick and drew a quick baseball in the mud around a tree. It was fun later when a kid found the drawing and exclaimed “Look! Someone drew a baseball on the ground!”

Vol. 4, No. 132, May 10, 2019

4132 - Play It Again.

My 6th graders are working on their Northern Lights mixed media project. Being the 4th quarter, I know that I've posted this project before, but it is one of my favorites. I decided to make today's example a farm scene and I love how it turned out.

Vol. 4, No. 131, May 9, 2019

4131 - Pretty In Purple.

Tonight I made a complete pair of Baby Booties. We had decided that Elle’s color was purple, even before she was born, so I decided to knit the booties with purple yarn and finish them off with a lilac ribbon. I used a doll as my foot model as my real-life model was unable to travel to me 11pm. Hopefully I will be able to deliver the booties on Saturday.

Vol. 4, No. 130, May 8, 2019

4130 - Never Give Up.

Tonight I attempted to make booties for my niece. I chose a soft purple yarn and got to work. It was going pretty well, but I had no idea how big to make them. So when it looked like it was long enough I tied it off. When I took it off the loom, I thought it looked kind of small, but I wasn’t sure, maybe it would work. Then I noticed a newborn sized doll sitting across the room, I slipped the finished bootie on the doll’s foot. It didn’t fit, unless I was going for a knitted clog. Unfortunately, I don’t think a clog will stay on a baby’s foot too well. I guess I will be trying again tomorrow.

Vol. 4, No. 129, May 7, 2019

4129 - May Flowers.


April showers bring May flowers, or in this case, April clay days bring May clay flowers. While my middle school students worked on painting their clay projects, I painted mine as well. I really enjoy painting and it's even more fun when the students stand around, oohing and aweing over the work. I keep reminding that the only reason mine looks so nice is that I took my time and paid close attention to filling in all of the white spots.

Vol. 4, No. 128, May 6, 2019

4128 - One Inch Tall.

Today my Kindergarteners finished up their Paper Playground Sculptures. The inspiration for these sculptures was One-Inch Tall by Shel Silverstein. The last thing we did for the project was use little foam noodles to make people. Like most projects for Kindergarten, I had make an example with each class. Here are some of the noodle people I made. They are taller than one-inch, but it’s the thought that counts.

Vol. 4, No. 127, May 5, 2019

4127 - Celebrate Life.

Yesterday, I had the honor of being with Eleanor and her parents (my sister and brother-in-law) to celebrate Eleanor’s first week of life. I arrived for a “morning” photograph session. After feeding the baby, going shopping for a hair bow for pictures, feeding the adults, and feeding and changing the baby again, we finally got started with the photo shoot about 2. This was fine. The whole day was just a go with the flow experience. With an assortment of baskets, blankets, outfits, and a heating pad, we worked together to create a fun photo session. I haven’t had time to go through all of the pictures on my camera yet, but I am confident that there are at least a handful of good pictures. This one is a photo that I snapped on my phone of one of my favorite poses. I loved that box so much that I told Becca that she has to keep it safe for the next baby.

I made sure to get special permission to post Eleanor’s first baby picture online.

Vol. 4, No. 126, May 4, 2019

4126 - Helping Hands.

The other day, Momma Miller asked me if I would help Baby’s A and R make  Mother’s Day gifts for their Moms. Of course I said yes, because I couldn’t turn down a chance for some Miller time and a craft project. So last night we set to work with our project, flower bouquets using hand and footprints. I did two prints of each and and each foot for each baby just to insure that we would have a good one for the bouquet. After the paint was dry, I cut out each print. Then I made tube-shaped stems with leaves that popped up. Momma Miller cut out and wrote on the flower pots. After assembling everything, I added a little trim to each pot. While it looks cute and really finishes off the project, it was really designed to cover up a glue smudge.

Vol. 4, No. 125, May 3, 2019

4125 - Brown Bear.

When I think of Eric Carle, I think of Brown Bear, so today during my extra prep time, I got to work cutting out pieces for a second painted paper collage. This time, I made a bear. I didn’t glue anything down, because I plan to use it as a working example for students to better understand how I want them to do the project.

Vol. 4, No. 124, May 2, 2019

4124 - My Favorite Things.

Today my 1st graders began their Eric Carle painted paper collages. Collage is probably my most favorite medium so I couldn’t resist sitting down with my students to make my own. I asked the students at the table I was sitting at for animal suggestions. My favorite of the ideas offered up was a zebra, so I set to work. We only had warm and cool colored papers to work with, so I had to get creative. I chose to use warm colors for the skin and cool colors for the hair and stripes. Of course, no artwork is complete without a background, so I added grass, clouds and the sun. When I was finished I noticed an empty spot so I added a flower as well. I was torn between leaving school on time today and staying late to make a second example collage. Leaving on time won, because I remembered that I have an extra prep time tomorrow due to the 1st grade field trip!

Vol. 4, No. 123, May 1, 2019

4123 - Midnight Mess.

Today was a long day; 13 hours at school, of course that included about 10 minutes in by car driving back and forth between schools multiple times. One of the tasks that I needed to finish tonight, causing me to have to stay late was painting papers for my 1st graders to use for their Eric Carle Collages. Most students painted their own during the last cycle, but there were a handful that were absent, so I made extras. I really enjoyed flinging/pouring/painting/scraping the paint across each paper. I only painted 8 papers, but I could have done so many more.